Fan Idea: Azshara/N'Zoth, Emerald Dream, 3rd Faction.

[DISCLAIMER: It seems people find this to be impossible, so what. This is what I think would be cool if Blizzard had the resources to do it. I'm not claiming to know what is going to happen, this is a fan dream. So please, take that into consideration before you start saying it isn't possible]
PRE Patch 6.0 – Introduction of the 3rd faction, the Forsaken. The queen of the undead has now discovered the secret to having all races be raised as undead, though she needs their bodies. With this new found strength she covets the power of the Lich King to be the undisputed ruler of the undead. She makes a strike in Northrend sending almost all of her undead to capture the Ice Throne and take on the mantle. Through her hubris she believes she can control the power of the Lich King and become the Lich Queen. Sylvanas, first strike is at Naxxramas, where Bolvar has regained ground, she eliminates his forces there and set’s Naxxramas as her base of operations. However, the Lich King is not easily destroyed and pushes back against Sylvanas and her foes. She calls upon her horde allies to assist in taking Ice Crown, but her allies are disgusted that she would raise their fallen as her own and refuse. Believing to be betrayed she obliterates Agmar’s Hammer in Dragonblight and Conquest Hold in Grizzly Hills. The Alliance at Wintergarde are easily swept aside by the massive forces of Sylvanas.

Because of the pride of Sylvanas, she believed that she could have the power of the Lich King through sheer force. However, because of this she left her forces in the Eastern Kingdom open for attack. And in retaliation for the comrades in the north, the Horde and Alliance joined in the siege of Lordaeron, dislodging the forsaken from their stronghold and pushing them west towards deathknell and further.

In order to strengthen their positions in Northrend, the Alliance and the Horde fortify their positions in the Borean Tundra and Howling Forde. Dalaran now moves toward its old home as the Horde break their truce with the Alliance and take Undercity for their own, making the battle for Alterac a renewed battle front between the Horde and the Alliance, as well as Fenris Isle and the Sepulcher. In retaliation, the Alliance move and retake Tarren Mill and Southshore.

Expansion Patch 6.0.5 - As the Alliance and Horde are occupied, Sylvanas has found the Tomb of Sargeras and is seeking for a lost artifact (the jeweled scepter of Sargeras) to help her destroy the Lich King and take his place. However, once again she is thwarted as both the Alliance and the Horde did not just turn a blind eye as they fought over Lordaeron and the surrounding areas, and have followed her to the tomb. Unknown to all three factions however is that over the time that the isle was presumed lost, an ancient evil has awaken there and taken shape with the help of an unknown ally.

The factions take base on a few of the broken isles and unlock the mystery that is surrounding the artifact that Sylvanas is seeking and all 3 race to claim it before the other.

They witness however, a battle is already taken place on the isles. Faceless monsters and demons locked in combat.

Raid – Essence of Sargeras. The raid explores why Sargeras’s essence lingers, and demons seem to be everywhere. However, as the raid discovers, there are not only demons in the temple, there are faceless ones, servants of N’Zoth. The heroes must battle through demon, naga, and the lieutenants of the old god himself in order to secure the artifact from demon entrusted with Sargeras’s scepter.

Scenarios – Each faction now has specific scenarios instead of many different scenarios that everyone can access. For instance, Forsaken would have Northrend scenarios trying to help in overtaking the Lich King. Alliance would be trying to take back certain parts of the lands from the Cataclysm as is the horde.

Dungeons – Dungeons follow the traditional path of being there for all factions (though perhaps having different effects on each one).

Dungeons: Against the faceless, left over stormreaver orcs, naga, nightmares (this is to be paid off later when introducing the emerald dream)

Patch 6.1 - All 3 factions learn that something has been happening in the Lost Isles, the oceans have overtaken many of their ships and shipwrecked many more. Sylvanas learns that the artifact that she is seeking has been split into 4 parts, a part of it was taken by the Horde back to Ogrimmar, and the alliance took another part to the Exodus, with the 4th part missing. Furious, she strikes at Ogrimmar with the plague bomb, forcing the horde to retreat due to the city already being rebuilt after the siege to remove their last warchief.

The orcs remove themselves from Azeroth entirely and return to outland. With the help of the blood elves they take Halaa and the surrounding villages and fortify it, making it almost an impenetrable fortress tower.

The Alliance see what happens to Ogrimmar and remove the artifact from Exodar and place it in the underbelly of Ironforge and shut the gates for the first time in a generation.

Having now 2 pieces of the artifact and being thwarted for the other piece held by the alliance. She sets her sights on finding the final piece. Searching through the tomb of Sargeras, she discovers why so many demons were able to return to Azeroth, a small portal has opened in the deep. That night she begans to have nightmares, uncontrollably, she sees endless demons pouring through a newly created dark portal and Sargeras’s return, then nothing but endless burning and destruction. She soon learns that the other leaders of both the Horde and the Alliance also had the same nightmare, and the same warning. It is coming. The nightmares continue, as is seems all of Azeroth cannot sleep. Malfurion knows where the source is and has no choice but to ask for their help.

Patch 6.2 – With the nightmares continuing, Malfurion seeks help in cleansing the corruption to restore the denizens of Azeroth. All 3 factions enter into the dream and help clear the area around the Rift of Aln. All 3 factions learn why they were drawn into the dream when the meet N’Zoth (or his avatar). As he mentions that he is the one who led them here to see if they could stop the rift, and if they could cleanse this, then they could help in defeating the cause of demons entering Azeroth. He tells them of his pact with Azshara and that she has raised her kingdom (parts of it) in order for the demons to enter.

(Insert Raid)

Patch 6.3 –

Patch 6.4 –

Patch 6.5 –

Patch 6.6 –

(Insert Raid Here – Final Boss, Azshara. She is summoning a portal that will bring the legion here [again] the heroes are attacked by wave after wave of Naga forces, elementals, and demons. Normal version ends with Azshara being weakened but having enough to enter the portal and the portal closing before the heroes can make it through. Heroic mode ends with the players being able to enter the portal, after entering the witness the unimaginable. The forces of the burning legion waiting to enter the now closed portal. And Azshara escaping. A demon lord descends upon the heroes and are almost defeated before Alleria and Turalyon appear from behind with yet another portal and teleport the heroes back to Azeroth).

Sub Races – So why the introduction of new sub races? Because allowing players choices in an expansion with now new race gives the player the feeling of a new race.

Dwarf: Wildhammer, Dark Iron, Frostborn, Iron
Dwarves have started to unite after millennia.

Human: Worgen
The Worgen are no longer seen as monsters but fellow humans, as the Gilnean society reclaim their city and formally join the alliance.

Troll: Forest, Jungle, Ice, Sand
After the Zandalari are thwarted again, the trolls realize that they need to coalesce and form up (all trolls form under the banner of Zul’Jin and start to take back and rebuild their old empire).

Goblin: Gilgoblin

Pandaren

Tauren: Taunka, Yaungol
The Tauren meet their brothern and form a council to help protect their race.

Draenei: Broken
The Draenei once again embrace their outland brothers and start to rebuild in outland.

Orc: Fel Orc, Mag’har, Clan Orcs
After the destruction of Ogrimmar, the new warchief leads the orcs back to Outland to bring together all orcs once again under the same banner.

FAQ:
“Would be a lot of angry people if they suddenly found out there undead character was no longer horde”A: Race change a possibility (free), or current undead could stay with the horde, however, many in the horde would probably not like that considering everything that Sylvanas was doing.

“Would BG’s need an overhaul?”A: A few would need to yes, in order for there to be balance some would need to be changed completely, others would retire, and new ones would be introduced.Warsong Gulch (retired), Arathi Basin (remains), Alterac Valley (revamped, but the same), Eye of the storm (revamped for 3 factions, possibly adding 2 more towers or going to 1), Strand of the Ancient (remains, but with Horde/Alliance vs Forsaken), Isle of Conquest (add a 3rd base, retool), Battle for Gilneas (retired), Twin Peaks (remain), Silvershard mine (add 3rd faction), Temple of Kotmogu (add 3rd faction, retool)

This is an idea I have kicked around for a LONG time.
You can consider this my Beta idea if you like, there is a lot more to come. But I wanted to post something before I headed off to work. I’ll come back and post much more later.

But, yeah, there are some ideas in there that will almost certainly go into a sea/Azshara expansion in the future. It seems well thought-out, but, I doubt anyone would be happy without some new races to play as (even with new sub-races), and they won't ever take the Forsaken out of the Horde. Too many people play Forsaken and have Horde friends, or simply like the Horde in general.

Edit: In Lore, the only one strong enough to raise a Worgen as an undead at the same time was the Lich King. It's the reason many human Gilneans turned into Worgen when battling the Forsaken (such as Fenris Isle). The San'layn and Val'kyr couldn't even do that. But all in all, you thought this out very well. Good job!

With GC saying, that Turalyon and Alleria are going to be introduced to WoW in the next expansion, it's pretty much all but announced, so no ED or South seas expansion. Patch maybe, but expansion's gonna focus around Argus.

Maybe existing undead would stay allied to the horde, some sort of lore would support this, but from now on undead are part of a different faction. It would be kinda cool Forsaken being a prestige race for the horde.

With GC saying, that Turalyon and Alleria are going to be introduced to WoW in the next expansion, it's pretty much all but announced, so no ED or South seas expansion. Patch maybe, but expansion's gonna focus around Argus.

Yeah I read that too, which is why they are mentioned in mine, albeit at the end.

Huh, very interesting. Kind of comparable to my idea for an expansion like this, but none-the-less an interesting idea.

Actually some of it was inspired by some of what you said, but mostly it came from what I've been kicking around for a while.

Actually, I was just wondering as Blizzard has been known to be 'inspired' by other games, as the new Elder Scrolls Online MMO will have 3 factions whether they would try and introduce a 3rd one in their next expansion.

However, if there was a 3rd faction, I think I would prefer it as a sort of 'Outlaw' faction rather than race specific. So, have it as a faction for all races (humans, orcs, forsaken etc.) for people who choose not to be in the main faction. You could even have the same starting zone up to level 10 for all characters, and then get some sort of 'shady message' quest where you're invited to switch to the 3rd faction. The other alternative faction could be, if it's is going to be Argus themed, have some renegade Eredar who are fighting against the Burning Legion although for their own reasons and so they're willing to welcome any other race that'll help them too.

If they did that though, they'd need to build a whole new city somewhere as the faction capital.

3 way battlegrounds could be very interesting (although the existing BG's would all need some sort of radical overhaul).

Usually I don't like most of ideas like these but i have to say i enjoyed reading this one. Biggest fan of new models of the different kinds of factions of races always wanted that in WoW. Removing the 3rd faction would make this a lot more realistic. But Horde has had enough problems with its races doesn't need another.

With GC saying, that Turalyon and Alleria are going to be introduced to WoW in the next expansion, it's pretty much all but announced, so no ED or South seas expansion. Patch maybe, but expansion's gonna focus around Argus.

Because Argus has anything to do with Alleria and Turalyon? I really hope they announce Argus was blown to cinders so people stop talking about it.

a third faction would require a revamp of classic, TBC, WotLK and cata zones to accommodate the new structure. as much as I'd love to get rid of the orcs bossing my undead main around, it's not gonna happen

a third faction would require a revamp of classic, TBC, WotLK and cata zones to accommodate the new structure. as much as I'd love to get rid of the orcs bossing my undead main around, it's not gonna happen

Actually in my plan it would occur over the course of a whole expansions as opposed to just the beginning. I'll edit my main post to show that, but for the most part it would call for the pre-expansion event that normally occurs be the forsaken taking Naxxramas and parts of northrend and losing Lordaeron.

Patch 6.1 would introduce the new Horde capital in outland, but keep most of the beginning starting zones (slightly revamped to have them move toward either Mulgore or something similar.

---------- Post added 2013-01-24 at 05:08 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Haven

No.

/10char

Fascinating, this "There are no answers, only choices." contradicts your answer.

This is a story, not an expansion. You can't just <insert raid here>. Where are the the dungeons? What about the new zones? You list three names (only three???) of places, not zones. You have one new area at launch and then throw The Emerald Dream and Kingdom of Azshara in there as places we go later in the expansion. How exactly does that work anyways? Where's the level cap? What's the visual theme (ie: Asian for MoP, fire and earth for Cata, Ice for WotLK and the green fel energies for BC)? You have listed one raid boss so far and, despite your directions for inserting raids, provide little to no actual physical location for a raid to take place.

Throughout, there is a general lack of newness for the player to experience. Everything takes place in places we've already been so there are few new lands to explore. You haven't provided any new professions or in game activities and have already decided that there will be no new class or race. Where’s the new shineys to play with? There’s no nook here. There's just the furthering of a storyline – all on its own mind you. Your story doesn't actually include the player at all.

While it was very interesting to read, this is not an expansion. It's fan fiction with just the slightest of nods to game design. It's a good story though. I suggest you stop trying to force it to be something it's not and just write the story you have bouncing around in your head. It'd probably be a great read.

Read at the bottom where I mention this is an early draft of my idea, I've already updated it since you read it to include raid ideas and dungeons for the patch 6.1 and I will continue to do that for the next ones as well. I just wanted to get my idea out their for some feedback.

I enjoyed reading this.
Some stuff are good, and I would actually love to see a new faction, but somethings just can't change. Can't just change the entire Lore, I guess this is just to much and alot of players would (I think..) stop playing.